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A range of barriers that impede collaborations between consumer researchers and other researchers have been identified, despite clear acknowledgement of the benefits of this approach in the literature. Recent research has questioned whether the costs of collaborative research outweigh the benefits. The overarching aim of the current study is to better understand non-consumer researchers' attitudes to, and issues concerning, engagement with consumer researchers. Non-consumer researchers from mental health disciplines were invited to participate in the cross-sectional Consumers as Researchers in Mental Health survey, and to respond to open-ended questions about their experiences of collaborative research with consumer researchers. The findings demonstrate a range of benefits associated with collaborations with consumer researchers – including increased relevance and credibility of research, and greater translation of research findings into changes in health policy, service, research and education. Collaborations were found to be varied and not limited by research design, decision-making styles, or research topic. Understanding these benefits within the context of identified barriers can make an important contribution to the proliferation of mental health consumer researcher roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to present a review of the peer-reviewed, published literature related to the transition from adolescent mental health services to adult mental health services. Six databases (PubMED, Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Google Scholar) were searched for peer-reviewed, published literature on the transition from adolescent to adult mental health services. Articles on primary research were included in the review if they were published in English between 2000 and 2018, and if they were explicitly about alignment and/or transition between adolescent and adult mental health services. Fifty articles were included in the final review. The findings are discussed in two overarching streams of research from the literature: evaluations of transition arrangements, and the perspectives of various stakeholders (including consumers, carers, and health professionals). The results emphasise the problematic siloes of adolescent and adult mental health services. While there are still no randomised controlled trials on transition to assess transition pathways, our findings have implications to inform best practice in the sector. Given that transitioning to adult mental health services is seen as a point of vulnerability for young people, this review contributes to understandings about how services can offer better support during transition periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with serious mental illness experience premature death due to higher rates of cardiometabolic conditions (e.g. cardiovascular disease, diabetes) than the general population. Mental health services often do not provide sufficient cardiometabolic clinical care to address these risks. The cardiometabolic health nurse (CHN) role has been suggested as a strategy for ensuring integrated care is provided and sustained. The views of nurses in mental health would be essential in informing the viability and development for this initiative. This paper presents the findings of open-ended comments from a cross-sectional online survey of nurses working in mental health in Australia ( n  =  643) eliciting views about the possible introduction of the cardiometabolic nurse. Thematic analysis was undertaken, of 133 open comments on this topic. The findings suggest that nurses see the specialist role as suitable and valuable for mental health services. Some nurses voiced concern about specialisation leading to fragmentation (e.g. in responsibilities for physical health, division of mental and physical health care, and less emphasis on equipping all nurses with comprehensive care skills), especially for settings where generalist nursing was seen as already available. The findings suggest this role is viewed favourably by nurses, provided that it is consistent with holistic and comprehensive care. Empirical research is needed to see whether this role increases holism (as valued by consumers and nurses) and cardiometabolic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing the rate of recruitment of nursing students into mental health nursing (MHN) is vital to long-term sustainability of health care system support for people diagnosed with mental illness. However MHN is not a popular career path; this raises questions about what attitudes and beliefs may divert or attract students to this specialisation. The current research involved a survey of undergraduate nursing students at a regional university in Australia to clarify the nature of relationships between attitudes (e.g., the value of mental health nursing, stereotypes of people with mental illness) and how they may be antecedents to considering MHN as a career path. Through a structural equation model, it was ascertained that anxiety surrounding mental illness leads to less interest in MHN as a future career and suggests that anxiety is (a) partly due to negative stereotypes, and (b) countered by preparedness for a MHN role. Beliefs on how MHN can make a valuable contribution to people's well-being did not affect interest in pursuing MHN. These findings reconfirm the need to reduce anxiety about mental illness by educational approaches that effectively prepare students for MHN, combined with challenging negative stereotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recovery-oriented services are a goal for policy and practice in the Australian mental health service system. Evidence-based reform requires an instrument to measure knowledge of recovery concepts. The Recovery Knowledge Inventory (RKI) was designed for this purpose, however, its suitability and validity for student health professionals has not been evaluated. The purpose of the current article is to report the psychometric features of the RKI for measuring nursing students' views on recovery. The RKI, a self-report measure, consists of four scales: (I) Roles and Responsibilities, (II) Non-Linearity of the Recovery Process, (III) Roles of Self-Definition and Peers, and (IV) Expectations Regarding Recovery. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses of the baseline data (n = 167) were applied to assess validity and reliability. Exploratory factor analyses generally replicated the item structure suggested by the three main scales, however more stringent analyses (confirmatory factor analysis) did not provide strong support for convergent validity. A refined RKI with 16 items had internal reliabilities of α = .75 for Roles and Responsibilities, α = .49 for Roles of Self-Definition and Peers, and α = .72, for Recovery as Non-Linear Process. If the RKI is to be applied to nursing student populations, the conceptual underpinning of the instrument needs to be reworked, and new items should be generated to evaluate and improve scale validity and reliability.